Police and military personnel in Meulaboh, West Aceh, Indonesia arrested a man on Wednesday, on suspicion of terrorizing a mosque and destroying its loudspeakers, an action that was allegedly triggered by his frustration at the mosque for disrupting his sleep during the holy month of Ramadan.
As reported by state news agency Antara, the suspect, identified by his initials NS (26), lives near the mosque in question. During Ramadan, the mosque holds tadarus (Quran recital) sessions, which it broadcasts using its loudspeakers, late every night and often into the morning.
On Sunday at around 3am, NS stormed the mosque during a tadarus session while holding a machete, scaring the congregation out of the mosque, before destroying the mosque’s loudspeakers.
When he was apprehended, NS told the authorities he snapped after days of being kept up by the mosque’s late night activities.
“We are still questioning the suspect,” Meulaboh Police Chief Budi Eka Putra said when…
